Story and photos by Craig Smith

31 Oct

What’s in a name?

Story and photos by Craig SmithSailboat Racing

A boat’s name is an important part of its appeal, and recently the 11th Hour Racing Team had a ceremony in Concarneau, France, that firmly established the identities of two of the team’s 60-foot race boats. Previously, the boats had only carried the numbers 11.1 and 11.2. The naming ceremony was conducted by philanthropist and 11th Hour Racing co-founder Wendy Schmidt, alongside 11th Hour Racing co-founders Jeremy Pochman and Rob MacMillan. 11th Hour dipped into the Hawaiian heritage of team CEO Mark Towill, and the brand new IMOCA 60, previously nicknamed 11.2, was named Mālama (to care for). The team’s…

31 Oct

Winning the Transpac celestial nav trophy

Story and photos by Craig SmithCelestial Navigation, Navigation, Transpac Race

When I was preparing for navigation duties aboard Mikmaks, a 1984 Stevens 47, on the 2021 Transpac Race, celestial navigation was at the top of my mind. A big reason for this was that I had just completed my 200-ton Unlimited Yachtmaster license, and International Yachtmaster Training for that license consists primarily of celestial navigation topics. On the race, I wanted to compete for the Transpac’s Mark Rudiger Celestial Navigation Trophy. I had used a sextant and worked out some sights over the years, but I had never solely relied on celestial before. So, the month of April found me…

31 Oct

Signal GPS improvements

Story and photos by Craig SmithMarine Technology

The incredible accuracy and reliability of the Global Positioning System, which has been in use for more than two decades, has given it the quality of a force of nature — always there, doing its thing, like the seasons or the tides. In reality, of course, a sizeable group of U.S. Air Force personnel and civilian contractors work behind the scenes not only to operate the system but to improve it. Let’s take a dive into a somewhat complicated aspect of GPS that most users never consider: the steady improvements to GPS civilian navigation signals. The original Global Positioning System…

31 Oct

The Transpac Race: A legacy of teamwork

Story and photos by Craig SmithShort Tacks, Transpac Race

Editor’s note: Ocean Navigator was a co-sponsor of the 2021 Transpac. Below is a story detailing one crew’s experience from the race. When sailor David Dahl and his two sons, Michael and Sean, started the 2021 Transpac Race aboard the Andrews 77 Compadres, they were taking part in and extending a company tradition that goes back to 1923. Dahl is the CEO of Whittier Trust in South Pasadena, Calif. Ninety-eight years ago the company founder, Max Whittier, purchased the 107-foot yacht Poinsettia and entered the race with his three sons in the crew. “You realize at 1,100 miles offshore, you…

01 Sep

Ocean Navigator sponsors the Transpac

Story and photos by Craig SmithTranspac Race, Uncategorizednavigation, ocean racing, route planning, Seamanship, Transpac 2021, Transpac 2021 sponsors, watchstanding

This July is the 51st running of the Transpac Race, the signature west coast offshore race, 2,225 miles from Los Angeles to Honolulu. And for this running of the race, Ocean Navigator is an official race sponsor. The seamanship, navigation, route planning and watchstanding efforts exhibited by the race crews are the same skills that voyaging sailors undertake every day in their passages. This makes ON’s sponsorship of the Transpac an excellent match. The race, run every two years, began in 1906 and was hosted by the Los Angeles Yacht Club. The current host of the race is the…

01 Sep

Transatlantic partnership tackles online learning with BoatHowTo

Story and photos by Craig SmithUncategorizedABYC, boat systems, DC electrical systems, marine education, mechanical systems, Nigel Calder

Every voyager has a story of how the COVID-19 pandemic affected their boating activities. For well-known boating author, systems expert and ON contributing editor Nigel Calder, the pandemic meant working with two colleagues on a new online learning platform called BoatHowTo (BoatHowTo.com). The website will offer courses for boaters to learn more about the technical aspects of boating. The first course offered is on DC electrical systems. Calder was approached by Dr. Jan C. Athenstädt, who runs KlabauterKiste, a German-language online magazine for boatowners, Klabauter-Shop, an online shop for boat electrics, and BootsBastler.org, a German online community, and by Michael Herrmann,…

01 Sep

Better than an atomic clock

Story and photos by Craig SmithMarine Technologyatomic clock, chronometer, clocks, GPS, GPS navigation, John Harrison, longitude, marine chronometer, navigation, time

An essential element for navigation is time. For navigation via celestial observations, you need to know your time down to the second. When we get into electronic navigation systems like GPS, second-level accuracy is not good enough. For that application, we need to start adding prefixes like milli-, micro- and nano- to seconds. The better we know time, the more accurate the navigation solution will be. And now the scientists and engineers are devising a new type of timepiece, called a nuclear clock, that will be the ultimate timepiece. One of the great stories in the history of navigation was…

03 May

Story and photos by Craig SmithMarine TechnologyCoast and Geodetic Survey, Electronic Navigational Chart, ENC, Lake Tahoe, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, paper charts

An obscure press release from NOAA on February 26, 2021, made an announcement about the availability of a chart in its catalog. Though the chart in question might never be used by ocean sailors, this release from NOAA was a big deal both for the history of US nautical charts and for their future. The announcement stated that as of August 2021, chart no. 18665 — the NOAA chart for land-locked Lake Tahoe, Calif. — would no longer be available in paper form from NOAA chart dealers. This first phase-out of a paper chart is part of a program that…

14 Apr

Story and photos by Craig SmithBluewater Gear

Originally from Scotland, David Irvine has lived and worked in the Netherlands, Dubai and Malaysia before transitioning to working remotely from his boat Ursa, a 1977 Valiant 40. [gtx_gallery] David has been inseparable from the outdoors since a very early age, discovering a love for hiking and mountains in his teens. He has since climbed in many of the great ranges, including the Himalaya, Andes, Rockies and Alaska. A relative newcomer to boating, he completed a number of sailing courses and boating vacations in the Mediterranean before going to Malaysia to experience the Andaman Sea and obtain his RYA Yachtmaster certification.…

14 Apr

Story and photos by Craig SmithOffshore Safety

Matt and Jennifer TenEick and their sons Conrad and Mark voyage aboard their 1992 Privilege 482 catamaran, Perry. Both Matt and Jennifer grew up in the Chicago area, learning to sail on Lake Michigan. The two followed similar career paths, each starting in law and then switching to the tech industry. Since they both love to travel, the idea of cruising the world on a boat began to take shape for them. It started out as a five-year plan to be in a position to buy a boat and leave. But, in the end — due to careers, kids, economic…